N.C. Highway Patrol Officials say it’s not clear why a Kannapolis woman ran off Deal Road Wednesday morning and landed in East Fork Creek.
Trooper B.P. Potts said the driver, Nancy Earley, 77, was traveling west on Deal Road, right at the Rowan and Iredell County line when she drifted off the right side of the road. Her 2010 Ford Focus left the road and landed in about two feet of water. The initial call to 911 communications said a car was upside down in the water, however the car never overturned.
“She doesn’t know how she got off the road. She just ran off the road,” Potts said.
A man driving a tractor trailer saw the car in the creek and stopped to help Earley out of the vehicle. Firefighters estimated the temperature of the water to be 34 degrees at the time Earley landed in the water.
Atwell Firefighters said she refused to be taken to the hospital, but was checked out at the scene by Atwell responders. Potts said Earley was not seriously injured, but did complain of pain in her chest from where the airbag deployed. She was wearing her seatbelt.
The trooper said Earley will not be charged because no property was damaged except for her own vehicle.
A hazmat team responded to the scene to contain fuel and oil that leaked from Earley’s car, which was towed out of the creek.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.